Damian Deallus swallowed the red gem and immediately felt terribly nauseous. He clutched at his throat and managed to look about the room at the others watching him with their eyes. Eyes red as fresh blood. Agonizing pain bubbled up from his gut and he fell to his knees, gasping for breath. Then the world went black.

When he opened his eyes, he was back in his mental plane. It seemed the same at first: A large white platform of unknown stone was below his feet, but he couldn't ignore the dark clouds in the distance. Damian sat on the ground and folded his legs in order to focus his mind. Sharp pain shot through his body and he shuddered for a few moments until it left him weak. He looked at his hands and blood began dripping from his nose onto them slowly.

"Boss! Don't do it!" yelled a voice out from the direction of the storm
"Damian! You fool! You need to rethink this!" Called another older voice that he recognized.
"Damian, what are you doing? Stop this madness!" yelled a young woman.

"Shit...I have to keep it together," he thought to himself. The dark clouds were closer and more menacing now. Lightning forked out of them as if feeling for something to grasp onto. Damian once again tried focusing his mind but he met with another onslaught of incredible pain that tore through him. His hands were shaking more and he ached as more blood dripped from his nose.

Lightning struck the platform and a chunk of stone disappeared in a flash of light and the deafening sound that followed. In its place was a man known throughout legend. His ancestor that lived hundreds of years and fought all manners of evil until he sacrificed his life to destroy it. Charley Deallus III stood before him, a grim look on his face and a sword at his side.

"So, you decided to take this path...? After all of the warnings I gave you. All of the aid that I could send...and you throw it aside and do the opposite?" growled Charley as he clenched his longsword. Damian remained where he was until the blood stopped flowing. He felt weak but his strength was returning quickly.

"I had no choice. The war needed to end and I wasn't about to sacrifice tens of thousands to see it through. This choice would end the war and get things back to the way they were!" retaliated Damian as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Back to the way they were!? You bloody idiot! You may have just condemned the world to an age of darkness! You were the only hope I had in stopping it!" snapped the ancient swordsman as he stepped closer. Damian finally regained his full senses and focused on his ancestor.

"I'm no hero! I didn't want any of this shit dropped onto me. You should have picked Felix! He was always the one wanting to bring peace and justice to everyone! I just wanted left alone!" yelled Damian as he began backing up. Charley scowled and pointed his sword at Damian.

"Sometimes you don't have a choice whether or not you are burdened with a task. I didn't have one at all. I wanted adventure and look at me now! Thousands of years from my own time and in your mind because you are from my own bloodline and learned to hone the correct skills. Padraig could never achieve the things you have. Felix isn't even from the family bloodline, so he couldn't be a choice. No Damian, you were the only one I could rely on. Until now. Now, you have only one path to redemption," replied Charley as he grew near and raised his sword. "Now, the only way to save your soul is to destroy you now. Otherwise, you will live in darkness with no end."

Damian reached out with his mind and focused. Pain rushed up to meet him but not before he materialized his rapier in his hand. He drew it up in front of his face and whipped it straight down at his side.

"Then, you will have to destroy me. I chose this path. There is no turning back now," said Damian as he quickly spun and thrust the point of his rapier at Charley. His enemy quickly took a step back and brushed the point of the weapon away from him and then replied with a mixture of slashes from his weapon as if it were light as a feather. Damian dodged and deflected each attack before finally being caught against the edge of the platform. He dove away from the edge just as a bolt of lightning tire into the ground and debris flew from the impact point. Charley was on him in a moment, stabbing at Damian as he rolled across the ground. The younger man dodged most of the attacks but was grazed by several before he got back to his feet and found several wounds added to him. He grimaced at the situation but regained his defensive stance just as Charley rushed towards him.

The two traded blows and were unsuccessful to connect with most of their attacks. Each time Charley closed the gap between them in order to gain the advantage, Damian would nimbly slide out into a more defensive range and shower him with thrusts from his rapier. Several attacks whizzed across Charley's chest, slashing him open and leaving him bloody and raw. He continued pressing the attack with reckless abandon, however. Damian began slowing down and was rewarded with several more bloody slashes as well. The two circled each other, watching carefully for openings but none were given by each other. The storm had other things in mind. The clouds settled overhead and lightning began striking more rapidly and with greater intensity. Strong winds pushed at the two of them until it seemed as if the entire platform would shatter. Damian and Charley clashed one last time in a rapid exchange of stabs, slashes, and punches that left the older fighter on his knees and dripping with blood.

"It is over...finish me. My end is at hand," gasped Charley as he dropped his sword and clutched at his bloody chest. Damian clenched his rapier and then released it.

"No, I won't do it. Save your strength. I might have need of you later. You must contact Felix and Padraig. I cannot be the hero any longer. I could never be the person to save the world. It seems silly to think such things could happen," said Damian as he turned to look at the storm tearing everything apart.

Charley laughed quietly through the pain. "Save my strength? Damian...there is no future for me. This is it. You made your choice," said the older warrior as parts of him began blowing away into the storm. Damian focused on Charley and grimaced through the pain.

"No! Go find Felix or Padraig! It can't end like this! There is no turning back for me but someone else can pick up the torch," yelled Damian as he grabbed at what was left of Charley. Laughter was all that replied to him as he was left holding nothing and then darkness swarmed over him.

Damian Deallus woke up in a bed and realized that his body could hardly move at all.

"I wouldn't do that for at least another day or two," said a voice off to his side. Damian turned to look and saw his benefactor leaning against a wall. He looked different today, as he looked every day.

"How long was I out?" asked Damian as he tested his muscles. They screamed back in pain.

"A few days. A small price to pay for eternity. Congratulations...Wrath."

Oh, kudos to my best friend for running me through this in our D&D games. He put me through this over Skype and I wrote down everything I remembered in text. I sent it to him and he said it was bloody brilliant so I would like some comments ...if any

"Everyone needs to have their avatar's edited to have afros." -Charley Deallus